Case Number 27104: Small Claims Court

The Book Thief (Blu-ray)

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All Rise...

Judge Patrick Naugle swears he only stole picture books.

The Charge

Based on the best selling young adult novel.

The Case

While traveling by train with her communist mother, little Liesel Meminger
(Sophie Nélisse, in her first American film) finds her world shattered when
her brother passes away en route. Liesel's mother, who has ties to a communist
party, arrives at her destination to drop her young daughter off with Hans
(Geoffrey Rush, Quills) and Rosa Hubermann
(Emily Watson, Red Dragon) in a small
German town for safekeeping. Although Rosa is stiff and stern, Hans has a softer
side for his new "daughter," and shares with her his love of words and reading.
Under the looming banner of the Nazi regime, Liesel finds her new home both
exciting and frightening, meeting new friends along the way, including a Jew
named Max (Ben Scnetzer, Happy Town) who she bonds with immediately. With
the treat of air raids and basement checks by the Nazi soldiers ever looming,
Liesel attempts to find meaning with her newly acquired foster parents, and in a
war that will take away more than just Liesel's innocence.

Book burning has provided Hollywood with plenty of angry fodder over the
years. From Ray Bradbury's classic Farenheit 451 (which was turned into a
1966 film) to popular hits like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(Dr. Jones running into Hitler himself), the idea of destroying important
cultural literature for the intention of evil has offered no shortage of story
ideas for the cinema. Although it isn't the central moment of The Book
Thief (even if it's in the title), the theme of taking something important
and beautiful and destroying it runs through the entire length of the film.

The Book Thief, written by Austrian author Markus Zusak, became an
enormous hit in the realm of adult young fiction in 2005 and spent over 230
weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Clearly the novel struck a chord
with fans, and as is usually the case, Hollywood came calling. Personally, I had
never heard of the The Book Thief until it became a 2013 film, and even
during its release it seems that no one I knew went to see it. For a book that
is so revered and beloved, it appears that the movie essentially came and went
in theaters without as much of a ripple. Due to the film's limited theatrical
run, it didn't become the smash hit many insiders expected (nor did it win or
become nominated for any awards, which is what the studio executives were hoping
for). Unlike the book, which saw its popularity skyrocket over the years, the
film adaptation seems to have come and gone like a proverbial thief in the
night.

I can see why The Book Thief didn't become the overnight cinematic
sensation many studio executives had hoped for. The movie is laboriously slow,
punctuated with moments of interest that never offer enough escape from the
monotony of the story. There's a somber pall that is cast over the film, which
isn't very surprising considering it takes place in the least happy place in
human history (Germany in 1938). Complicating matters is the fact that the
German location seems to be almost picturesque in its depiction of Nazi infested
Germany; take away the bad guys and the street where the film takes place almost
has a Norman Rockwell-like quality to it. In other words, none of the
buildings—or even the people—seem like they're going through one of
the worst periods of America's history. Everything in The Book Thief
appears to have been almost totally Hollywood-ized.

If I have any high praise for The Book Thief, it's that the
performances are all well above average. Geoffrey Rush—that hound
dog-faced actor who seems to sway between cheesy B-films (House on Haunted Hill), big budget
action movies (Pirates of the Caribbean:
At World's End), and riveting drama (The King's Speech)—finds just
the right balance in his performance, enough so that I thought it was ripe for
an Oscar nomination. Rush gives a gentle, warm, and amusing performance as the
good natured Hans Hubermann. Rush is truly the heart of the film, giving viewers
a much needed smile throughout a film that s constantly filled with sadness.
Complimenting his performance is Emily Watson as his gruff wife, who runs a
tight ship with a sharp tongue. Although relative newcomer Sophie Nélisse
does a decent job with her role, she's all but eclipsed by Rush and Watson's
masterful work in the film.

There are moments when The Book Thief truly shines, but the parts
never add up to a cohesive whole. The moments of levity—including a
snowball flight in the chilly, dank basement of Hubermann's home—quickly
give way to melodrama, which makes the shift so abrupt that it's hard to keep
up. Director Brian Percivel (who's biggest work includes directing multiples
episodes of Downton Abbey) gives the
film a polished look, but comes up short in the end, especially considering how
mediocre the screenplay feels (written by The
Rite's Micheal Petroni). When I initially sat down to watch The Book
Thief, I wasn't sure what to expect. Unfortunatly, aside of a few good
performances and a fine score by composer John Williams (Jurassic Park), it's a movie that
doesn't live up to its source material.

Presented in 2.40:1/1080p HD widescreen, Fox's The Book Thief
(Blu-ray) is lush and vibrant, especially the opening moments where the
camera tracks a train through a bitterly cold winter scene. Fans of the film
will be thrilled with how flawless this transfer is. The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio
track is a largely dialogue driven, though there are moments when the surround
sounds kick in nicely. The biggest boost comes from John Williams's lush,
evocative film score. Also included on this disc are Dolby 5.1 tracks in French,
Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, and Turkish, a DTS 5.1 Audio mix
in Russian, and subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German,
Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian,
Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian,
Turkish, and Ukrainian.

Bonus features include a few deleted scenes, a featrette ("A Hidden Truth:
Bringing The Book Thief to Life "), the trailer, and a digital copy of the
film.

Clocking in at almost two and a half hours, The Book Thief makes for
a sluggish evening's worth of entertainment. Fans of the novel may be pleased,
but I have the feeling it fails to capture what readers loved most about Zusak's
story.